Themes From The CASE Leadership UK Study Tour
Last week, a group of senior university advancement leaders, led by Cairney & Company Partner, Colin McCallum, took part in an intensive study tour that offered the chance to meet senior leaders in UK higher education and advancement across a number of institutions.
In an open and highly interactive environment, participants were able to learn from a wide range of UK-based fundraising and alumni engagement programmes, discuss what strategies drove that success and uncover insight that could inform their own advancement programs.
Over the course of the four-day tour, across several institutions and in discussions with multiple speakers, several key areas continued to be central topics of conversation. One of these was leadership.
In our article prior to the Leadership Tour, we discussed some of our thoughts on what 'leadership' might mean in this context, so it was interesting to hear many of those concepts echoed by the delegates. Leadership wasn't simply seen as something that drove a successful, high-performing team, but was about building strategic networks across institutions and engaging senior institutional leaders to develop the scale of fundraising activities from the top down.
Another topic that was the subject of continued discussion was that of talent management. A lack of experienced talent was one issue that was on many people's minds. Looking at trends across recent Ross-CASE reports, this is perhaps not unexpected given increases in average advancement and fundraising staff numbers per institution. With difficulties in retaining staff another concern, it then becomes harder to nurture and develop talent internally, as high staff turnover impacts mentoring and training programs.
It wasn't all about concerns though. Eric Thomas reflected on progress since the publication of his report fourteen years ago. With noticeable benefits being seen in around 20 - 25 universities who have focussed and developed their fundraising strategies, there is cause for optimism for institutions who are working towards these goals.
With similar trends of thoughts and issues from participants around the world, from New Zealand and Kurdistan to South Africa and the United States, this year's CASE UK Leadership study tour reminds us that the key themes of university advancement are truly global and, while there will always be unique challenges and situations, there is much we can learn from building strategic, international connections.
Cairney & Company President, Karen Cairney & Colin McCallum, Cairney Partner are presenting on Leading the Way to Success – heads and fundraisers working together This plenary session will explore the partnership between institutional leaders and development staff that will drive growth and sustainability at the upcoming IDPE Conference in Edinburgh March 11, 2019.